Litigation

Rufer, et al. v. FEC

Rufer, et al. v. FECCase Summary

On May 21, 2014, Chris Rufer, along with one state committee and one national
committee of the Libertarian Party, filed suit in the U.S. District Court for
the District of Columbia to challenge the constitutionality of laws and
Commission regulations that prevent party committees from raising and spending
funds outside the federal source and amount limitations to finance independent
expenditures. The plaintiffs seek injunctive relief and a declaratory judgment
that such restrictions violate the First Amendment.

Background

Mr. Rufer is a California resident who would
like to help party committees finance independent expenditures by contributing
more than the annual federal limits of $10,000 to state and local party
committees and $32,400 to national party committees. 2 U.S.C. §441a(a)(1)(B) and
(D). The Libertarian Party of Indiana and the Libertarian National Congressional
Committee—both of whom would receive Mr. Rufer’s large contributions—join him as
plaintiffs.

Analysis

The Federal Election Campaign Act (the Act), as
amended by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, prohibits party committees from
soliciting, accepting or spending funds for federal election-related purposes
that are not raised in compliance with the Act. 2 U.S.C. §441i(b)(1) and (c). In
fact, national party committees may not raise or spend any funds that do not
comply with the Act’s limits and prohibitions. 2 U.S.C. §441i(a).

A series of
recent court decisions have concluded that the Act’s contribution limits and
its ban on corporate and union expenditures cannot constitutionally be applied
to funds nonconnected PACs raise and spend solely for independent expenditures.
Based on these decisions, some nonconnected PACs have established separate bank
accounts to finance independent expenditures using contributions that may exceed
the Act’s limits and come from corporations and unions. The plaintiffs argue
that the First Amendment requires that party committees be permitted to
establish such accounts.

The plaintiffs ask the court to grant preliminary and permanent injunctions
to prohibit the FEC from enforcing the challenged provisions, and seek
declaratory judgment that 2 U.S.C. §§441(a)(1)(B), (D) and 441i(a)-(c) are
unconstitutional as applied to separate independent expenditure accounts created
by party committees.

Dismissal

Rufer, et al. v. FEC (Rufer) and RNC, et al. v.
FEC (RNC) were both dismissed after the parties filed
dismissal agreements with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.